I recently had the opportunity to review Art Ditto. It is a memory game, but it is so much more, too!

There are 48, 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″, high-gloss, heavy-duty tiles of famous museum-quality paintings. The paintings depict birds, boats, cats, flowers, horses; and music. They are gorgeous! There are also 8, 5″ x 10″ cards that can be used for collecting art sets. Designed for ages 4+, it is a wonderful game for family play with multiple ages. You’ll find it on the website for $24.95, and possibly in your local art museum’s gift shop.

Because Art Ditto is a memory game, it promotes visual processing, matching, memory, taking turns; and sharing for young children. The pictures are vibrant, and hold a child’s attention. This game is not just for wee ones, though. The cards list the subject of the painting, the artist; and the name of the painting and the date. The text is written in four languages! English, French, Spanish; and German. (I do wish there was a pronunciation guide included, because it took me some time to look up the proper pronunciations so I could read them aloud.) This game could easily be used, with older students, as a supplement to their art studies, history; and language.

I played it with a 4 year old. Just me and my granddaughter. She loved the art! We spent at least 15 minutes just enjoying the paintings, and discussing what we saw in them. 48 cards seemed a bit overwhelming for a memory game, though, and it took us forever to match them; so after the first game, we chose themes ahead of time. One time we chose the tiles with flowers and tiles with the color green on them, another time we chose tiles that had something “living” on them, and so on. Each new game, we mixed up the set of tiles and played with the smaller set, making it quicker and a little more enjoyable for her age. It’s a game that can easily grow with her, and future grandchildren.

My Crew mates reviewed several of the products that are available at Birdcage Press, and if you click the banner below and follow the link you’ll find them there.

Blessings,

Disclaimer* I received the game, Art Ditto, in exchange for my honest review as a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew. I receive no other compensation for my reviews on this blog. The opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you for your comments. I enjoy hearing from you!

Contents of this blog are copyrighted; they are the property of Knee Deep In Grace and may not be used without written permission.

What’s black and white and red all over? Remember this one? Okay, so it’s really what’s black and white and read all over? A newspaper, of course!

What’s blue and red and eats rocks? That’s simple. A blue-and-red-rock-eater! Now, what’s pink and green and eats rocks? A pink-and-green-rock-eater, you say. No way, I say, they only come in blue and red!

Want a Free Keeper Account? Follow the Keeper Account link above, click Create a Free Keeper on the bottom left; and let your child choose a [Zoo] Keeper from a variety of pre-designed avatars. These are all they have to choose from, at the moment, but my kids are hoping they’ll have a little more freedom in the future to design their own avatar Keeper.

Choose a Keeper

Once they’ve chosen their Keeper they sign in with their first name, or a code name if they’re anything like my son, and a parent’s email address to get permission to use ZooWhiz. You can then use that same email to create a Free Parent Management Account, which will be connected to your child’s account; giving you the ability to keep up with his progress.

ZooWhiz is lively and engaging, with graphics that are bright, crisp; and bursting with energy!

Learn and Earn generates activities that move your child to practice math, reading, grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, spelling; and phonics according to the Age Floor you select for him, and earning coins for every correct answer given. Two chances. Answer the question correctly on the first try and you earn 20 coins. If you miss it and try again you’ll still earn 10 coins with a correct answer. Miss the answer and 10 coins are taken away and the correct answer is supplied.

The coins can then be spent in the Arcade, on games, or in the Biodome at the Zoo Animal Shop. Keepers can choose from and collect many different animals, viewing them and learning more about them from a detailed flash-card-type graphic. My children choose animal collecting 9 times out of 10, over playing games in the Arcade, and it is the highlight of the ZooWhiz online program! It should be noted though, that the website says, “Create a Free Keeper Account and start building your very own zoo.” This idea is compounded when you select the Biodome tab under Information for Kids, the opening tagline reads, “Enter the Biodome to choose your animals and build your very own zoo.” As Keepers students build collections of animals, but there is no Zoo to build. There is no place to organize or view the animals in a zoo-like setting, and there is no visiting or care giving. My students, ages 8, 11, and 14, were all truly disappointed in this aspect of the program. Milestoneskeeps track of student progress, and seeing progress is something we all need!

Click the graphic to see a full Animal List

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ZooWhiz is all about “reinforcing learning and rewarding effort!”

My 8-year-old says it is all about “fun, fun, fun!”

When you discover, as I did, that ZooWhiz is an outstanding supplement to your current curriculum, you can choose to upgrade to a Premium Zoologist Account. Currently, a 1-year subscription is just $14.95. Seriously. I don’t know how long this dramatic savings will be available, but what-a-deal compared to the regular price of $59.95! The Premium Zoologist Account entitles you, as the parent, to more management, anytime access; and detailed customization to your child’s age or learning pace. The Premium Kid’s Account opens more games and an exciting choice of animals to collect, including rare, endangered, dinosaurs and mythological creatures. My son earned and saved 5000 coins to add a Sasquatch to his collection! That’s a lot of learning and this seems like an ideal place to slip in a “well done, Son!”

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ZooWhiz has a website full of information.

I included several links to it throughout this post and I hope you’ll make use of them.

Disclaimer* I received 1 year access to a ZooWhiz Premium Zoologist Account, for three of my children, in exchange for my honest review as a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew. I receive no other compensation for my reviews on this blog. The opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you for your comments.

Contents of this blog are copyrighted; they are the property of Knee Deep In Grace and may not be used without written permission.

You might remember that I have an affection for Unit Studies. The Unit Study Method of teaching allows me to incorporate every aspect of my focus topic, covering many subjects. This method usually allows for a lot of hands-on learning, and often improves my child’s ability to transfer skills they learn during school to real-life situations. Where do you get the ideas for activities that will enhance your student’s learning? I might talk to another parent/teacher that has experience or an expressed interest in the theme of our study. I have several home resources, an exceptional local library; and access to an array of online resources. I have a standard bag-of-tricks, but my latest discovery is Box of IDEAs.

There are not many boxes available, yet; but the future potential is great! Designed for ages 9 – 16, with the flexibility for use with even younger or older students, each Box of I.D.E.As. is filled with topic-focused activities and information. There are at least 10 modules per box that might include games, puzzles, portfolio pages, experiments and explorations, well researched web-links; and more. All of the activities in the box are complete, but if any additional supplies are needed, like a pencil, they are listed on the module label and can be acquired before the module is even opened.

Presently, there is a Box of I.D.E.As. for World War Two, SALT, Laundry, Quilting; and the number Eleven, with Olives, Pine, and Cemeteries coming soon. Supplementing our current study of Early America, the SALT Box of IDEAs fit well into our schedule. The branch of interest I pursued was early means of food preservation, and there’s a module for that – Preserving with Salt. After introducing the topic into our curriculum, I let the box of modules lead the way. The “SALT Box of I.D.E.As. is a comprehensive look at salt and how it has helped shape history, nourish our bodies; and even build and destroy empires.” We were prompted to dig into History, Geography, Science, Language, and Political Systems; while using math, reading, writing, and critical thinking skills among others.

Contents of the SALTBox of I.D.E.As.

The single most difficult thing about using Box of IDEAs was choosing which module to start with first! So, I read the label on each module bag: Title, Contents, Materials Needed, and Related Quote; and pulled out the one that “struck my fancy.”

The Wall That Salt Built –“While most people know of the Great Wall of China, most people don’t realize that it was essentially paid for by salt.”

Salt of the Earth– “Although, most of the world’s salt comes from the US and China, there are salt producers in many countries around the world.”

Very Salty – “A plethora of hypersaline lakes exist all over the world.”

Need for Salt– “For human and non-human alike, if we didn’t have salt, we would cease to live.”

Nelson Mandela quote ~ “Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.”

Producing Salt– “Finding Salt – It is something we see and possibly use every single day, but where does it come from?”

Science of Salt– “Salt is the combination of two elements – both somewhat volatile.”

Preserving with Salt– “Pre-dating the birth of Christ, salt has been utilized to make food safe for future use through preservation.”

The Game of Preservation by Salt

Salt Peppers Our Words– “Salt provides the root for many commonly used words that proliferate still today.” The Salt March– “In March of 1930, Mahatma Ghandi chose to protest, peacefully, the salt tax.”

The History of Salt– “Salt has had a profound influence on human civilization from the beginning and in all parts of the world.”

(45) 2″X3″ Salt Timeline Cards, initially used with the Salt Chronology Game

This is one of the simplest systems I’ve ever used! I could easily assign a module to one of my middle school or high school students for independent work. Just take the module bag out of the box and begin. I gather pencils and make copies of the portfolio page for each of my children participating in the activity. I also have notebook paper available for copywork and expository writing. I read the printed material out loud and we discuss the content. Portfolio pages record lab results, ask fill-in-the-blank questions; and prompt essay writing, etc. Each module includes a list of 3-4 Extensions that encourage delving deeper into the topic. The Extension activities are varied and I tend to choose two out of a list.

Here are five of over 30 Extensions suggested:

Find references in The Bible to salt. It is mentioned approximately 30 times, see how many you can find and make a list.

Watch the 1982 movie “Ghandi” which chronicles Ghandi’s life and fight for Indian independence.

Make your own solar evaporator using household items…

What happens if a person eats too much salt? Set up an appointment with a nutritionist or dietician to talk about salt in your diet.

Pick one of the top salt producers and find out how much revenue salt production brings to that country.

As time allows, I have the older students follow selected Web-Links for additional reading and oral presentation. I make age appropriate writing assignments to be done after we close the module. We normally wrap-up with one of the games or card activities included in the Box of IDEAs.

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Box of I.D.E.As. and their complete learning modules are an outstanding benefit to our homeschool, aiding in the retention and recollection of the topic matter covered. I think it is a good value in the combination of physical materials supplied and the time saved with immediate access to the thorough research that’s already been done. A physical Box of I.D.E.As. is $79 and printable PDF format is $49.

My Crew mates have written reviews of two of the current boxes that are available from Box of I.D.E.As., SALT and World War Two – Pearl Harbor. Click the banner below to read their well expressed opinions.

Blessings,

Disclaimer* I received the physical SALT Box of I.D.E.As., in exchange for my honest review as a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew. I receive no other compensation for my reviews on this blog. The opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you for your comments.

Contents of this blog are copyrighted; they are the property of Knee Deep In Grace and may not be used without written permission.